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Community Engagement from Fairoaks Garden Village Limited

Over 100 Chobham residents attended the first Fairoaks Garden Village public exhibition of this year, on Tuesday 17 April. Fairoaks Garden Village Limited held the exhibition for local people to view the revised plans and emerging proposals for the Fairoaks Airport. The exhibition was held in Chobham at St Lawerence Church, High Street, from 5pm until 9pm.

The Fairoaks Garden Village proposals are for an exemplary Garden Village development providing homes, jobs and community facilities in an attractive landscape setting. The proposals will help this part of Surrey meet its required housing numbers and take some pressure off surrounding villages and towns to accommodate the rising demand for homes.

The garden village will provide a variety of homes for the benefit of local people currently unable to rent or buy a home here. There will be a full range of types and tenures of homes – meeting needs and aspirations of local people, with no affordability gaps.

The proposed village will enable all the necessary infrastructure to be afforded including a new primary school to help a community develop and grow. A key feature of the Garden Village will be a Community Trust to manage and maintain community assets and infrastructure, including opportunities for community ownership.

This public event was an opportunity for local people to view new plans following last years’ community engagement event when a vision for Fairoaks Garden Village was drawn up. Feedback on the vision was carefully listened to and considered before these revised plans were put together.

Present at the exhibition were the project team for Fairoaks Garden Village Limited, including Managing Director Ian Cox, and the full team of architects, infrastructure, community and housing experts – ready to take on questions and queries from local people.

Further public exhibitions have been held at Woking Shopping Centre and Ottershaw – both on Saturday 21st April. Over 300 local people attended these exhibitions.

Feedback received at these exhibitions included some positive support from local people, including comments stating that the revised plans “Look better to me than the previous plans”, and “Very thoroughly thought out”.

Some of the key features of the revised plans include:

• The number of proposed homes has been reduced from 1,500 to 1,000 resulting in a much lower density.

• Home will be built to be sustainable with significant domestic energy production.

• New employment premises for local businesses will be provided and existing jobs will be safeguarded. Over 1,000 jobs will be created and safeguarded in total. A wide range of diverse jobs will be provided.

• Over 130 acres of SANG land (Suitable Alternative Natural Green land) and 54 acres of open space.

• Retained and enhanced existing ecological habitats, including the creation of a ‘super SANG’ green network, to offer improved nature conservation and biodiversity.

• New link road and cycle route between Chertsey Road and Guildford Road.

• Improvements to footpaths and bridleways and the potential provision of a bus service, enhancing connectivity between communities.

• Incorporation of grey water recycling and other water reduction/capture methods to minimise water consumption and wastage.

Fairoaks Garden Village Limited’s Managing Director, Ian Cox, stated:

“We are really pleased with how many residents have attended our public exhibitions, as this is a fantastic opportunity for us to speak to local people and explain our new plans in more detail. We have been on hand to answer any questions local residents have had, some of which are important questions to answer. We hope that people have come away from these events well informed and we are happy to answer any other further questions.”

Fairoaks Garden Village Limited are holding more exhibitions to consult with local residents and businesses and feed their ideas back into this evolving scheme. In addition to residents and businesses, they have also invited District, Parish and County Councils.

October 29, 2018 / Community

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